Zadie Smith protests over library cuts

Award-winning novelist Zadie Smith and poet Benjamin Zephaniah  are among celebrities who have joined the protests condemning the Government's cuts to public services.

Zadie Smith part of the campaign to save London libraries was brought up in Willesden Green and she spoke at the Save Kensal Rise Library campaign event this week.

The Kensal Rise library is one of six facing closure under new Brent council proposals; alongside many others around the country that are also subject to closure under the climate of local council spending cuts.

Speaking about the importance of libraries and the role they played in her childhood she said: “The cuts are so shameful I doubt this Government will ever live it down".

After a six-year leave of absence, to start a family, the writer is back to bookwork to write a new novel about her home town Brent, called NW. Smith says the novel is about the people in NW London and also about class.

Poet Benjamin Zephaniah also a cuts campaigner is supporting the Standard's Save Our Libraries Campaign.